"Try to be aware of it all..." I mumbled as I looked up at a passing airship. Despite earlier talks, however, it did not linger near me, it just kept on flying along the route it was on. It annoyed me slightly, as it ran contradictory to what I had been talking to Inerish about. Giving them the benefit of the doubt didn't strike me as reasonable either, with how eager she was, I expected something ready now.
Unless it all hinged on what she wanted to do to my attire? But, if that was the case, then I was just going into the night distracted. I have been forewarned to consider something that is not ready but I have to keep fighting like I always do until that time comes. It made me uncertain, and it was right as the night came upon us all.
"Well, aren't you jittery tonight, Dance Partner?" the monster cackled as he faded into existence on my right.
"Worries are always strongest before the event, and now, I have no time to be worried!" I told him before I lashed out at him with an overhead swing from my left.
He laughed and disappeared, "So you say."
Reacting to his reappearance, I twisted about and caught his blade within the confines of my shell-covered claw. Growling as I did so, I forced my way towards him and swung my free claw downwards. But his awkward posture was deceptive and he loosened his sword grip and slipped away with a cackle. Leaving his blade in my grasp was a mistake, and I intended to punish him for it.
So I tossed it aside gleefully and dashed towards him. My fists met his gloved palms and I forced him away some more, only for him to taunt me as he found himself against the building's edge. I gave him little time to show a lack of sincerity and I was quickly upon him once more with my foot driving through the parapet instead of him. And whilst the momentum flowed through me, he leapt up and threw me off balance, driving me onto the floor right after.
"You are distracted, you are putting on a facade of effort!" he explained with a grin as his blade inexplicitly found its way near my neck.
Roaring up at him through my mask, I grabbed onto his hideous face and forced him towards the ground. Having flipped myself over with the force of my move, I drove a fist down at him and the rooftop exploded. In the confusion of our sudden fall, he then freed himself and slashed his blade up along my chest as he leapt away. With another roar, I burst through the shower of debris and slipped along the floor as I registered the slash.
Driving my hand onto the ground, I stopped myself from going any further and looked up just in time to watch as he thrust his sword. Moving upwards along his left side, I caught the blade along my left side and viced his head with my own left side. His head was now still and my right fist swung around and impacted his jawline with desirable results.
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It even left me grinning as I watched him twirl away in the air, though it quickly vanished when he gracefully landed. Having wiped away what must've been blood from the edge of his mouth, he dug his feet in. He presented the tip of his blade ahead of his slimmed posture and he placed his free hand into the air above. He was going to force me onto that blade whether I tried to avoid it or not, so, I obliged him.
With the magic built up in my legs, I went at him with an explosive burst of force. Though I impaled myself on the thin blade, I had broken through his guard. And as I gnashed away like a wild animal, I reached for his face and I put my thumb-claws into his mouth. Through the gap in his cheeks, I lodged them between his chattering teeth and I bent them inwards!
"Thish ish nyot it!" he let out as he vanished right before me, but the sound of pierced glass ahead alerted me to his position.
"STOP RUNNING YOU COWARD!" I roared in anger as he howled with joy from the other side of the cracking glass he was slowly sliding down. So I scrambled to my feet and reached out for him once again, just barely missing him as he increased the pressure on his blade. Twisting about too slowly, I found myself beholden to a view dominated by shattering glass. A projectile with a hideous grin quickly pierced me and I cried as the force snapped me out of my descent and forced me into another.
Building after building went by as a destructive chorus of rended metal and shattered brick stuffed itself into my ears. Yet, all throughout it, I could still hear his laughter, his cackling, it dominated the soundscape even outside of the gap between collisions. It all then came to a halt as we landed for a brief moment on a road before it all just jolted higher. From outside the crater, screams resounded about as a foot suddenly twisted my gaze towards the exposed gravel.
"Dance Partner, I understand I am the lead in this, but would it hurt for you to show some initiative?" he complained as he pulled his sword out of me in an upwards manner.
And I roared some more as I felt the wound grow in such a swift manner.
"Here, let me take this off, it sounds like you are growling," he said as he snapped my mask off, "oh, you are!" he laughed right after.
"Bastard..." I growled as he steadily reversed the damage with every backward step he took.
"Dance Partner, come, come, show me what you can do in the lead." he encouraged me to do as his blade cast a shower of sparks at me with every sweeping swipe he performed.
"It'll put you so far underground that I'll spend years digging myself back up!" I told him just as several orbs of wavy, glowing, golden energy suddenly went for him. But with quick reflexes and a blade that cast a coloured shadow behind it, they all burst harmlessly.
"Oh... Thrurstradtur's finest want to be involved with me again. Well, I must admit, this is taking me back. Does it do the same for you as well, Dance Partner?" Smiling Jhurack reminisced as the burst of light disappeared into the darkness of the night and the street lights.
"Do not take that focus from me!" I snapped as I charged him once more, swerving about as to direct him towards the back alley he had his back to!